Ben Hilfenhaus

Benjamin William Hilfenhaus

Born on
March 15, 1983 at Ulverstone, Tasmania

Right Handed Batsman
and Right-arm fast-medium bowler

Teams played for Australia, Tasmania, Chennai, Hobart Hurricanes

Built like a Hulk, Ben Hilfenhaus is one of the rising young stars in the Australian pace bowling firmament. After a couple of solid seasons with Tasmania domestically, he forced his way into the Aust...
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Batting stats

M

Inn

Runs

HS

Avg

SR

NO

100

50

4s

6s

Tests

27

38

355

56

13.65

54.2

12

0

1

48

5

ODI

25

11

29

16

9.67

42.03

8

0

0

2

0

T20I

7

3

2

2

1

20

1

0

0

0

0

IPL

17

1

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

CL

9

4

7

7

0

100

4

0

0

0

0

Bowling stats

M

Inn

B

Runs

Wkts

BBI

BBM

Econ

Avg

SR

5W

10W

Tests

27

49

6078

2822

99

75 / 5

97 / 8

2.79

28.51

61.39

2

0

ODI

25

25

1216

1075

29

33 / 5

33 / 5

5.32

37.07

41.93

1

0

T20I

7

7

156

161

9

15 / 2

15 / 2

6.19

17.89

17.33

0

0

IPL

17

17

372

479

22

27 / 3

27 / 3

7.73

21.77

16.91

0

0

CL

9

9

210

232

12

14 / 3

14 / 3

6.63

19.33

17.5

0

0

ICC Rankings

Batting

Current Rank

Career Best

TEST

--

-

ODI

--

-

Bowling

Current Rank

Career Best

TEST

--

6

ODI

--

69

-- indicates player not in top 100Rank changes shown are of the last 30 days

Built like a Hulk, Ben Hilfenhaus is one of the rising young stars in the Australian pace bowling firmament. After a couple of solid seasons with Tasmania domestically, he forced his way into the Australian bowling line-up and made his test debut when they toured South Africa in 2009.

Injuries to Brett Lee and Stuart Clark, combined with the retirement of Glenn McGrath gave Hilfy a chance to showcase his skills. Along with Mitch Johnson and Peter Siddle, he helped Australia avenge a series loss a couple of months earlier to South Africa by delivering crucial blows.

During the unsuccessful Ashes series in England in 2009, Hilfenhaus took the new ball and finished with 22 wickets. He impressed with his full length and made full use of the bowler friendly English conditons. Getting the ball to swing back in to the lefties, he troubled Strauss and Cook and repeatedly provided early breakthroughs.

Before he made his international debut in 2009, he was named the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year. Injury cut short his home season in 2009 as he was diagnosed with knee tendonitis and ruled him out of cricket for nearly 6 months. Since then, he has been down with one injury or another and has made sporadic appearances with the Baggy Green on.

A natural out-swing bowler, Hilfenhaus has the ability to angle it in to the right-handers. His action means that he is under constant stress from back injuries. Hilfenhaus was picked up by Chennai for a price of $100,000 to play for their team in the IPL 2011, but another injury ruled him out of the season. Having had a good outing in 2012, the franchise decided to buy him back at the auction for the 2014 IPL.

Having established himself as the mainstay of the bowling attack, Hilfenhaus was expected to lead the Australian bowling attack during the Ashes series in 2010-11. His returns were shockingly poor though. The series though turned out to be a disaster, both from an individual as well as the team point of view. Hilfenhaus returned with just 7 wickets from 4 Test matches and Australia were humiliated by a 1-3 margin, losing the Ashes for the first time at home since 1986-87.

Hilfenhaus was one of the casualties from the side and had to wait for nearly a year to wear the Baggy Green once again. It turned out to be a memorable comeback as Hilfy tore through the vulnerable Indian batting line-up and ended as the highest wicket taker of the series with 27 scalps from 4 Tests.

Hilfenhaus picked up a side strain during the 1st Test against Sri Lanka at Hobart and has been ruled out of action since then. The injury also forced him to miss out on the tour to India in 2013.

Interesting facts: He is an avid golfer with an eight handicap and was Mr September in the McGrath Foundation's 2009 Men Of Cricket calendar.

Hilfenhaus has been nicknamed Gentle Ben by his Australian teammates in reference to his gentle personality and the popular bear from the 1970s TV series.